Despite its age, the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament remains one of the most
influential texts in our culture. It is also one of the most
controversial. How did the Bible achieve this status? Why do people from
different backgrounds read it so differently? And why has this text, so
puzzling in its content, so remote in its origins, come to have such an
influence on our culture?
"The Bible and its Interpreters" will examine these questions by exploring
how Genesis and Exodus, the first two books of the Bible, have been read
by different interpreters through the ages-
Jewish rabbis and Christian Fathers, fundamentalists and modern scholars,
slave-owners and slaves, pilgrims, feminists, and many others. Our goal is
not only to better understand what the Bible was intended to mean by
those who wrote it but what it has come to mean for people today.
Requirements
The course includes the following requirements
1) attendance, preparation and participation in ALL lectures and section
meetings, Attendence means coming to class able and willing to discuss
class readings and issues brought up in class.
2) 5 brief writing exercises
3) Group Project: (20% of class grade)
Required Texts
1) The Harper-Collins Study Bible
2) James Kugel, The Bible As It Was
3) Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
4) John Steinbeck, East of Eden
5) Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters
6) Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale
7) Zora Neal Hurston, Moses, Man of the Mountain